Immigrant businesses who spoke out against Mamdani supermarkets say theyre getting hit with NYC sanitation fines

Members of an immigrant business group that has spoken out against Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plans for government-owned supermarkets lately have been getting slapped with fines from the city’s Sanitation Department — and some say it looks like a case of retaliation.Diana Larrazabal, who owns flower and gift shop Aroma D’ Angel at 304 E.116th St., said shops including hers in recent months have received a slew of citations from the New York City Department of Sanitation for garbage that isn’t even theirs.Her flower and gift shop was dinged with fines three times this year — most recently for $350 in May.

Many of her Spanish-speaking neighbors who are not bilingual lean on her to help them navigate the city’s red tape, she said, adding that they also are forking over hundreds of dollars in fines.“It’s definitely more frequent,” Larrazabal said at a Wednesday press conference held by the Multicultural Business Coalition – which sued the mayor and the city on Monday over the city-owned supermarket strategy over fears it will pose unfair competition to their stores.The coalition’s chairman, Frank Garcia, says the fines ramped up about two weeks ago when the group began pounding the pavement to speak with local business owners to get support for its suit. “When we started going door to door two weeks ago, that’s when the fines started,” Garcia told The Post, saying some have been served with penalties as stiff as $1,000.“The owners don’t speak English.”“DSNY issues cleanliness violations in all corners of the city,” a spokesperson for the Sanitation Department said, adding that the city has issued 223 commercial summonses in Harlem since March 1.

“Our only goal in issuing violations is to give all New Yorkers the clean streets they deserve.”Asked about retaliation allegations on Wednesday, Mamdani spokesperson Cassio Mendoza referred to Mamdani’s public comments on Monday, in which he said he is “confident in both the legali...